Fyaside (one word), a Jamaican restaurant on Munroe Street in the Dells, now has a second location called Fya Side (two words) on Monroe Street in Madison. Got that?
Many items were good but fell short in 1-2 areas. For example, other than a little bit of the spicy jerk seasoning, the jerk chicken ($17) was fairly plain, but at least it wasn’t dry.
Meanwhile, the oxtail stew ($22) was very tasty. It wasn’t actually a stew; rather, the oxtails were dumped on top of my side of red beans and rice, which made them extra yummy. Unfortunately, the dish wasn’t very filling because it came with a few pieces of oxtail, and they typically don’t have much meat on them to begin with.
Similarly, the fried chicken ($17) was good, but the plate only came with three small pieces, not worth the high price. Also, the description of “Jamaican style” was more like Cajun in flavor.
If you have a bigger appetite, go with the huge Fya Smashburger ($17). Like most restaurants these days that serve so-called smashburgers, the patties weren’t actually smashed. Still, it was juicy and delicious. The mac sauce was mustardy and not like the sauce on a Big Mac.
Another burger I liked was the BBQ burger ($17). It came with bacon, pepper jack cheese and jerk barbecue sauce, which was probably on a spice level of two out of 10, but it was tangy and worked well with the burger.
I’m a sucker for empandas, and Fya Side makes one ($6) with a nice, crispy shell packed with beef and just enough cheese so that it doesn’t explode out. You also can get this with cabbage, curry chicken or pork.
On Fridays, the three-piece haddock ($15) is available. The fish came in strips and was coated with a seasoned cornmeal batter that was outstanding and made up for the fact that the haddock itself wasn’t very good, as you could tell they had been frozen.
One other seafood item was the shrimp broth ($7). I appreciated that it came with a lot of delicious shrimp, but they were unpeeled. They were joined by carrots, celery and onions.
As for the sides, the red beans and rice were super dry, and the cole slaw was just cabbage without any vinegar or mayonnaise, so don’t get it. Instead, look to the awesome pasta salad, which was served warm and mixed with corn, carrots and peas. Everything worked well together.
Fya Side Kitchen serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday.
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See more photos in our Fya Side Kitchen Flickr album.
